Star Trek Beyond (ENGLISH)

Star Trek Beyond (Michael Giacchino). It was seen coming... and arrived. But as to the third time always something happens... to the third time what is confirmed is the disrespect of Varèse Sarabande towards the buyer of his music. With Star Trek (2009) by Michael Giacchino, Varèse waited a year to weigh whether the market was ready to purchase a deluxe edition. Although the bet was not a show of audacity, since it was a limited edition, limited risk. With Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) the move was practically the same: original edition in spring, deluxe edition in summer of the following year. Would the record label perform the same maneuver for the third time, or would it have the courage and decency to release Star Terk Beyond's deluxe edition (2016) from the moment the film was premiered? The answer is no. But this time, the record label decided that editing an album just before Christmas was more profitable than waiting for the next summer, so just 5 months after marketing the first edition of the soundtrack, it was time to release the predictable deluxe edition. And just 3 days after the original album's vinyl release! Something that might have angered even more to any quick, impatient fan.

We understand that Varèse's 80s and 90s model of editing at least a part of almost any soundtrack was to thank, at least for the risk of the record label when editing some soundtracks with more difficult profitability. But that in 2016 the soundtrack is released in 2 formats with just a difference of 5 months, does not speak well of the respect that the label has the fan, who seems to think stupid. Sure, the label thinks that, with the marketing of the deluxe edition, they cover the market share of the most demanding buyers who prefer to have the long and complete deluxe version before the standard version. The problem is that, if they are released 5 months apart and without any previous advertisement, fans willing to purchase the deluxe version will have already bought, certainly, the standard version. Do you like Star Trek? Do you like its music? Well, buy the disc 2 times. That seems the business slogan that Varèse has taken. If, at least, the deluxe edition was released in digital format we could justify the publication in some way, by adding that advantage of format that, evidently, the label does not consider as such. Why Varèse edits the original score in digital format but does not do the same 5 months later with the deluxe version? This hobby of playing cat and mouse with deluxe, limited and non-digital editions is baffling. What kind of distribution is this? Varèse should learn from other record labels that edit 2 versions of the soundtrack at the time of the film's release in physical and digital formats.

Already the reissue of much of its poor editions of past decades, although exciting, always left a taste of shameless. The fact that a soundtrack is reissued is a symptom that the first album lacked length. And if a label has become expert in reissuing its own catalog, the more conspiracy ones can pass from the chance to see the reissue of an album, to be the final execution of a plan designed several decades ago, and for which always waited to reissue the same soundtracks, for which the record label had the rights, to make money 2 times. So it was interesting to publish albums with poor length and content, to be able to make attractive reissues of almost any of them. With just a little they contribute, they would be better than the original editions. Recall that Varèse’s standard in many editions was to create a compilation of 30 minutes, with all the technical information on the back cover, and with a 2-sided booklet, the inside of them often in black and white and without any additional writing content. With the twenty-first century, it seemed that Varèse had advanced with the times and the record market, and that they could think like John Hammond: "I'm not making the same mistakes again". But there is always an Ian Malcolm who appears to point out: "No, you're making all new ones". The pre-internet record market was very different from the post-internet, and we will assume that the editions released at each moment are a consequence of the difficulties of each one.

In music, the comparison between standard edition and deluxe edition is also clear: while the standard 18-track edition is tasteless, bordering on boring, the deluxe edition fills much more, providing a large amount of missing details in the first edition. In any case, the third consecutive composition of Giacchino in the Star Trek universe, although it brings new and high level themes, like the Yorktown theme, has reached a point in which it cannot give more of itself, without bringing nothing new and relevant, and where the fan can only look forward with yearning to the almost insulting repetition of the main theme, almost the only showy and recognizable fragment of the score. Despite this, Giacchino's gunpowder has not been exhausted, and the deluxe version shows a lot of details that prove it. Its publication, that of the deluxe or complete edition, becomes essential from the moment of the film's premiere, because if not, how to value the musical work of a composer if it leaves without publishing more than half of his music? What does not let the music of Giacchino ascend a step closer to excellence is the film itself: special effects increasingly impressive, ships and complexes so great that sometimes rub the ridiculous... but the story of Kirk is a chapter more, without pretension greater than to entertain during two hours and forget. The saga has always been lacking in emotionality in the characters, and apart from Kirk's relationship with Spock, not even the loss of the captain's son at the hands of the Klingons carried the least emotion on the viewer who, at least in this circumstance, would be expected. And if the story of the character does not excite, the music cannot. The dramatic ability of Star Trek is very limited, never being exploited in excess, with the evident loss of the dramatic part that music could bring. And it is that part that often excites more than any other. But at this point, it is clear that the saga does not pretend to excite, and if the important thing is to make big ships and crazy hallucinated shots covered in action sequences, in that J.J. has fulfilled perfectly well.

For outstanding tracks, Logo And Prosper, Night On The Yorktown, Hitting The Saucer A Little Hard (which includes a version of the main theme performed by the choir) and The Dreaded Rear Admiral.

The deluxe edition significantly improves the musical experience of listening to the soundtrack and includes a huge amount of music, although the brief booklet is clearly shorter compared to the amount of written content that other record labels are bothered to include. The booklet has promotional photographs of the film (neither more nor less), and a brief note by Michael Giacchino about the deluxe edition (the most valuable of the booket content), but without any other information that could complement and enrich the experience, leaving this edition somewhat detached from the deluxe surname.